


You never came back

by tobstertoaster



Category: ARTEKAO (Visual Novel), Original Work
Genre: B), Gen, One Shot, Original Universe, im cool, look i have to write fanfics for my stuff, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh based off my visual novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 14:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12170805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobstertoaster/pseuds/tobstertoaster
Summary: For years on end, Nicole hated his father for leaving him behind. But once he heard the truth of what happened and found that his father hadn't passed onto the RE:SET, he didn't know how he could handle it.





	You never came back

**Author's Note:**

> uhh for context: so basically in the visual novel, a computer holds up the world and keeps it from ending. however, if the computer gets corrupted and no one does anything about it, the world ends. so uh the world ends and everyone passed onto another world. and arte, who used to lead the world stayed behind because the computer deemed him and kao responsible for this mess.

"You chose to remember that whole computer fiasco, right?" Gem asked, throwing the last sodacan across the room into the trash. "Hell yeah." He muttered the moment the can fell into the small trashcan. Nicole laughed softly and sighed, looking away from his step sibling. "Of course. And you do know how dangerous it is to ask that, right? If I didn't choose to remember, you would've forced the memories to come back!" He shuddered when remembering what happened with Ruka. For the past few years, everything was fine until Ruka found some conspiracy theories online. Those theories consisiting of one certain indiviual managing to remember what happened in the previous world. It must've been a glitch on the system; the people involved in that entire incident were the only ones who were asked if they wanted to live and remember or live and forget. Ruka was put into a coma for about six months due to the shock it put him under. 

Gem pushed a few strands of hair away from his eyes. "I know, but I was pretty sure the answer to the question was yes. It was meant to be moreso of a uh...opening question, I guess. An opening to a question I wanted to ask." Upon hearing that, Nicole raised an eyebrow with a curious smile. "Oh? And what's the question you wanted to ask?" He asked, bouncing his leg. Ever since the ARTEKAO project was scrapped and that entire genocide thing was put to rest, Nicole no longer felt like he had to hide his tics. So he guessed that was the best thing in his life right now. "Do you ever think about what happened to Arte?" Gem's question caused Nicole's heart to skip another beat. Arte? He had to admit that he hadn't thought about him in years. Although he wanted to remember the incident, he never wanted to remember Arte. 

"Wh..What?" Nicole stuttered with a nervous laugh, bouncing his leg faster. "Think about it. My...father...Kao, well...I don't give a shit what happened to him. I think that everyone's glad that he's dead." Gem said, leaning his head back onto the top of the couch. "But Arte was your dad, right?" The question caused Nicole to dig his nails into the couch armrest. He stood up instantly. "How did you know about that? He just left me for your asshole of a dad. I'm glad he's dead, he can rot in hell for all I care!" He laughed bitterly, shaking visibly. Gem raised an eyebrow. "He always talked about you. You were always on his mind. Yeah, I thought of him more of a father figure than Kao. But I think he considered you more as a son than he did thought of me. Nicole, do not think for a  _second_  that Arte didn't care about you. He didn't leave because he wanted to, he left because he was forced to. It was supposed to be only for a week, but Kao forced him to stay there. He always talked about you, he thought you were dead but you were still on his mind." Gem stood up, sighed, paused the television and started climbing the basement stairs. "I'm going to go get some more soda."

When Gem left, Nicole sat down and stared down at his hands. He never knew what his father went through. All he thought that he left him just because he could. Arte was the absolute devil in his eyes, and now that he knows the full truth, Nicole didn't know what to do with himself. He stared at the basement doorway while Gem climbed back down, holding the third and last pack of Coca-Cola. Gem set it down, took two cans and tossed one to Nicole. "Gem, in that white space we were in...Did you ever see my dad?" He stared at Gem with hopeless eyes, knowing full well of what the answer would be. Rejection. "What? Oh. No I didn't. I think Arte and Kao were both lost in the reset. They never got to pass onto this world. I guess the computer didn't want either of them to ruin this second try. We're the only people, along with a few others,  who remember who Arte and Kao were. Either way, Arte's never coming back."

Nicole laughed, tears pricking his eyes. "Ah, really? Thanks." He stood up once again, walking upstairs. "Uh..Are you okay?" Gem called out, taking a sip of his soda. "Yeah. I'm fine. See you." Nicole responded. "See you." When Gem replied, Nicole stopped walking at the last step. "Gem, do you think Arte would come back if I forced people to remember?" He asked. "What?" Gem's voice shook. "Think about it. What if Arte can never come back because people don't remember him? Arte had such an impact on the world, and if I bring that impact back, then there's a chance he'll be back, right? It'd never hurt to try, right?" Nicole chuckled, and Gem immediately stood up. "No. It'd definitely hurt to try. Nicole, you are  _not_ going to take this away from me. This is my second chance. This is the only time when people can actually see me as a good person. You're going to put everyone into goddamn comas, and when they wake up from them, they're going to see me and you as the literal devil." Nicole noticed that Gem was attempting to sound calm when he really wasn't. Nicole knew that Gem wanted to punch his face in for that idea. "Who cares?! I want my dad back. You're being selfish. All you want is for Ariel to see you as a better person. Arte is going through hell and back again, and you just want Ariel to think of you as a good guy." He had to make him understand. "Shut up! This is an awful idea and you fucking know it." Gem shouted, balling his fists so hard that his knuckles started to turn white. "Well, you wouldn't understand, would you?! _At least my dad actually fucking loved me!_ " Nicole screamed, and the moment those words slipped from his lifts, all of the air from the room was sucked. The atmosphere became cold.

"Get out." Gem said quietly after the moment of silence.

"Gem,"

"Get out of my fucking house!" Gem screamed, causing Nicole to immediately open the door and run out. He left the house as quickly as he could. Fuck. It was freezing. Nicole left in so much of a rush that he forgot to grab his winter jacket. He opened his car door, got in, and turned the car on. With a sigh, Nicole started to drive away while going through his phone's contacts. Ah. Although he felt bad, he knew he had work to do. He immediately tapped on Ariel's name, placing the phone down while putting it on speaker. "What's up? Why're you calling this late? It's like...eleven." Ariel's voice said through the phone. Nicole felt a smile coming on as he said his opening question, as Gem would call. "Ariel, do you remember that whole computer fiasco?" 


End file.
